Dan Gilbert

Who else thinks Dan Gilbert is an idiot? I have no problem with him being a little ticked off with Lebron. Could Lebron have handled the whole situation a little differently? Absolutely. He could have placed a call to the Cavs before going on the air to say, "You know what, I've had a great time in Cleveland the past 7 years, but I've decided to take a different offer."

But he didn't. He made a business decision about what would be best for him and ultimately, what would be the most fun. Lebron's a 25 year old millionaire, probably on his way to be a billionaire. I'm trying to put myself in his shoes since I'm about his age and if I could cause that much hype, why the heck not go through with it like the way he did?

But that's not the point. Dan Gilbert is a businessman. Sounds like a pretty smart businessman. But to make the comments like he did after "The Decision," was a little ridiculous. Did you see the type font that he wrote the letter in? Size 16 Comic Sans it looked like. I remember using that font when AOL Instant Messenger first became cool when I was in eighth grade. To say that he quit over and over, that they let him get away with things they never should have; that he's a terrible example for what kids should grow up to aspire to...comon' Dan. Lebron made a business decision. He's young and without a title yet. So he wants to go play ball with his buddies and last I checked, South Beach is a little bit of a better destination than middle of the rust belt Cleveland. And having Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh is a little better than Mo Williams and Anderson Verajao.

So it's time to move on Cleveland. You can be fired up and want nothing more than to beat Miami when they come to town (my gosh, is that going to be a fun game to watch. You think Lebron will toss chalk dust into the air just for old times sake?). But stop ripping on Lebron like a bad girlfriend after your boyfriend dumps you for someone hotter.

And most importantly, stop making outrageous comments about winning a title before Miami. Do you really believe that Dan Gilbert? I've heard a lot of wild guaran-SHEEDS over the years, but this comment from Gilbert trumps all of them. Maybe you should go back to doing what you know best, and make a fathead of your new star in Cleveland...Kyle Lowry? Oh wait, never mind. His old team Houston just matched your offer.

The Decision

I shouldn't have a blog if I'm not going to say anything about what I just witnessed on ESPN. What a ridiculous circus. I've never seen anything like it. The pull that this free agent story has gotten over the past couple of months is proposterous. This story has completely trumped everything else that is going on. I know that in the summer we're hard up for sports stories (you can only have so many story lines over a 162 game baseball season) but I still can't get over it. It's still going on. ESPN has analysts in Chicago, Cleveland, New York, and Miami to talk about fan reactions! This is crazy!

But man, I'm super pumped to watch the Heat next year. People say well, what about the role players? You can't win without role players. I think Wade, James, and Bosh are enough world players. They still got guys like Beasley and Chalmers. Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen. Sure, Steve Kerr hit a game winner and Dennis Rodman grabbed a lot of rebounds, but are you telling me Michael Jordan didn't win those championships? It will be tough, but they're going to be an awesome team. Tell me what sub-par role player isn't going to take a little less money for a couple years to play alongside these superstars. Sure, I might be able to try out for the 11th and 12th spot on that team, but I think they'll be fine. The Celtics won with the three power players (given, who knew Rondo would be so good. But why can't some nobody from the Heat emerge like that guy?).

In the end, we found out that what Lebron is about is winning. He's taking less money, swallowing his ego a bit, and joining a Heat team who's already got their star. The Heat is Wade's team and James is willing to go there and sacrifice some of his own game to play together to win a championship. This is going to be wild. I don't care much about the NBA but I care about this.

Believe me, this will make for great television.

The Soccer Post

Ok, I'm going to try my hand at a post about soccer. If you know me and you're reading this, you'd be completely shocked. I've made a point to hate soccer, not care at all about anything to do with what the rest of the world calls football. But, I'll be the first to admit I can get into this whole World Cup thing....as long as the US stays alive.

The World Cup is like the Olympics. Happens every four years. Strong sense of pride for your country, yada, yada, yada. When Micheal Phelps swims, I'll set anything else aside, turn the channel from anything else, and watch him go. But tell me he won some world championship in Rome, who cares? I'll watch him when it really counts. And to me, that's like World Cup soccer. When Donovan knocked that goal in today in the 91st minute - stoppage time - I just about leapt out of my chair (watching it on ESPN3, but of course, not missing a beat at work). It was exciting. It's like Henrik Zetterberg scoring a goal in the last seconds of a Stanley Cup playoff elimination game: you win, you go on. You lose, see you on the golf course tomorrow.

And maybe that was partly it as well. Facing elimination makes any sporting game more exciting. Middle of the season, what difference does this one game make? And that's what it will always be for me when it comes to soccer. I'll get super into it, cheer for the US, make a point to clear my schedule for a game. But as soon as this thing's over, good luck trying to wake me up at 7:00 on a Saturday morning to watch some Premier league game.

But really, I hope the US can keep advancing. First time in 80 years that we won our group and the first time since 2002 we've advanced. As a sports fan, I can appreciate this and I can get excited about this. But come July 12, or whenever it ends, you'll find me caring more about what the Lions are doing to tune up before the season than where Clint Dempsey will be playing whenever more soccer happens.

What is it About the NBA

That kind of sucks? There's a lot of reasons but that's not what I feel like typing about right now. For some reason, I find myself actually intrigued by the NBA Finals taking place right now, literally, as it's halftime of Game 5 right now. I heard a staggering statistic the other day that blew me away, but really shouldn't surprise me at all when I start thinking about the NBA's history. 25 of the past 50 league champions have been either the Boston Celtics or the Los Angeles Lakers. Of those 50 finals series, 31 of them have at least featured the Lakers or the Celtics playing for the title. That is absolute domination of two of the most storied franchises in any sport. Which in turn, makes me want to watch the finals. If this were the Hawks and Thunder playing for the title, I don't even think I'd watch a second of it. But I hate both the Celtics and Lakers and that is why I think I end up watching it. I know I'm watching two of the greatest teams that not only have been two of the greatest teams in the past five decades, but also in the past couple of years.

So now, I am trying to figure out who I want to win. It's a very difficult decision, one that I'm basically going to decide on which team has the least amount of players that I dislike strongly.

For the Celtics:

Kevin Garnett - Can't stand the prick. But his intensity of unworldly. Do you see the camera shots of Garnett while he's on the bench? Terrifying. I don't know how Big Baby doesn't cry more often.

Paul Pierce - I hate listening to him talk. It's like he always has a bad case of laryngitis. Downright annoying.

Rajan Rondo - I'm torn here. His stats rival that of Magic Johnson. He's been incredible in the postseason, as good as almost anyone when it counts. It's fun to watch him play, but I don't know if that warrants as me liking him.

Ray Allen - I'm sick of his scraggly little attempt at a chin goatee.

Sheed - Absolutely love him. Because he's not on my team anymore. His arguing of every single call against him is hilarious. And his eyes always get so, so big.

How about a few Lakers players:

Kobe Bryant - The closest thing to Michael Jordan. And if he wins his fifth title this year, against rival Boston, he will cement himself as undoubtedly the closest thing to MJ. He is such an artful player, just pretty to watch.

Lamar Odom - He married a Kardashian. What a loser.

Derek Fisher - How can I hate the guy after watching the heart wrenching interview about his daughter's near death experience with a rare form of eye cancer? The guy is money behind the arc. The only guy that can stand up to Kobe.

Pau Gasol - He smiles about twice a season, and it is something scary to see.

Luke Walton - I'd have to get into the argument of who do I hate more; Bill Walton or his "I can't believe he made the ESPN magazine college basketball preview back in the day" son Luke Walton.

Ron Artest - Have you ever the bit on the Jim Rome Show of Artest retelling a story of how a guy was killed on the court with a table leg? I want more Artest eye witness accounts.

There's some players that I missed but I think I made my decision: I like the Lakers, but only ever so slightly.

Either way, I hope it goes 7 so the sweet taste of victory is delayed as long as possible for each team.

The First Post

I've never written a blog post before (do you count xanga?) but I thought I'd give it a try. You may have noticed that the name of this blog indicates that I will be writing about sports. This is true, for the most part. I guess I'll see where this thing takes me. But sports is something I care about, something I care about and enjoy enough to start up a blog. You're probably thinking, "Great, another dime a dozen sports blog." You may be correct, but I hope to put my own little spin on the many opinions I read about and hear about on a daily basis, all with a little bit of a West Michigan bias.

Now I don't do much with facebook, don't have a twitter account, and I think I may have updated my gmail buzz status once, so who knows how often I'll update this thing. But given the past week or so in the world of sports, how can I not be fired up to spout off about it? I've tried with my wife. It's just not the same.

Let me start with college football. Can you believe it? Unbelievable moving and shaking going on which will change the entire landscape and geography of what we've all come to love in the fall. Nebraska to the Big 10, being followed by maybe Texas and Texas A&M? Would they then add Missouri and possibly Kansas? 16 teams? How about the Pac 10. Colorado? What's pacific about that state? Where is Oklahoma and Oklahoma State going to end up? Will Texas forget about the Big 10 and go to the Pac 10? What the hell is going to happen to the Big 12? There will be no more Big 12! And USC? You got out of there just in time Pete Carroll. It's almost as if you had a pretty good idea about what was coming...

I don't know about you, but I am pretty excited to watch this all go down and then watch as schedules begin to unfold. A yearly UM - Texas match up? Will this mean the Big 10 will finally create a tournament at the end of the year? I'm sick of not watching Michigan play the last couple weeks of the college football season, not that it would have mattered at all the past two years. But eventually, UM will be back and those games into middle to late November will really matter.

How about Tom Izzo to Cleveland? Would he really do it? It sure sounds like he's close. Right now he's being wooed by Dan Gilbert and the rest of the Cleveland front office with their state of the art facilities and the ever present possibility of the king of basketball returning. But should he take it if Lebron doesn't return? Right now, it sounds like Izzo's not going to know that answer when he makes his decision. Unless he knows something that the rest of the entire media world doesn't...

I can't start up a blog without mentioning the biggest sports story of this baseball season that took place last week. Galarraga's 28 out perfect game. It means more now that the Bud Selig didn't overturn the last call and give him the official perfect game. When I'm 75 years old telling my grand kids about the "good ol' days" and baseball as I knew it, they'll say something about the 28 perfect games in the history of the game (I'm assuming there will be a couple more by the time I'm 75 - heck, there should have been three this year already! Does that mean baseball has really began cleaning itself of steroids?). And I'll respond, you know, actually, there's been 29 perfect games. And I'll delve into the class and sportsmanship that Galarraga and Jim Leyland showed after one of the worst blown calls I've ever seen. And Jim Joyce should be commended as well. He owned up to his blown call. He was in tears. Galarraga seemed like he was almost in tears after the game. And then he was the one to submit the roster card the next day to the umpire that blew his probably one and only chance ever at perfection? Unbelievable.

I shouldn't end this post without at least a mention of the World Cup. I'll be the first to admit that I am not much of a soccer fan. But maybe I can get up for it once every four years. I can appreciate what the World Cup means and what soccer is to the rest of the world. South Africa being the first African country to ever host a World Cup? That's pretty big news. And the US with a chance right off the bat to do something huge against England. Big stuff. Lots of things going on. But that's the beauty of sports, there's always something going on. Always a story, always a human interest piece, and always people like me who want to talk about it.